Firemen training center

(click on image to enlarge)

This past weekend we went to an open house for the new regional fire training center in the next town of Balsthal.  For many years this property was occupied by rows of old abandoned warehouses and train tracks – not of much use to anyone.  The place was completely transformed into a high tech training center.  A concrete car parkhouse, concrete apartment block, train tunnel and car tunnel were all built here for simulating real world scenarios.  The tunnels and buildings are rigged up with advanced computer monitoring systems.  We were able to see state-of-the-art fire fighting equipment including a ($8 million) train car & tanker used for putting out fires.

In image #4, you see Sue, Sarah and Rebecca standing next to an iron car designed to go up in flames and be reused again.  You can see real cars piled up back in the tunnel.  This replicates a multi-car pile up and fire in one of the many Swiss alp tunnels.  In an actual training session this tunnel would be filled with smoke and burning cars.  The fancy coloured lights are only for the open house. ;-)
Image #2 shows a live training session with trainees cutting apart a car and removing the passengers (real people are inside!).
Image #1 shows a nifty feature being demonstrated on one of the Swiss fire trucks.  A hydraulic jack comes down and lifts the truck completely off the ground so it can be rotated 360º!
Image #3 is of my co-worker Brent Hautle.  He's an American and Swiss citizen.  As a Swiss, he's fulfilling his Swiss Zivilschutz duty by helping with the open house weekend.  This is (roughly) similar to the civilian defense used in the US during the War.  Zivilschutz is an option to the required military duty for all Swiss men.  Brent performed his civil duty by bravely manning the grill in the food tent. :-)

This made for an interesting, relaxing and fun afternoon for our family.